Spy chief defends Obama administration
In a statement, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.
weighs in on the deadly assault on the U.S. mission in Libya.
(
by Greg Miller
, The Washington Post)

China’s currency rising against the dollar
The value of China’s yuan closed Friday near a record high against the
dollar, approaching what some analysts consider a fair market price and
potentially easing concerns that the country’s currency policy is
damaging the U.S. economy.
(
by Howard Schneider
, The Washington Post)

Romney attacked on Chinese investments
The Obama campaign says it is inappropriate for a presidential nominee to be investing so much money there.
(
by Philip Rucker and Jia Lynn Yang
, The Washington Post)

BofA to Pay $2.43 Billion to End Shareholder Suit Over Merrill
Bank of America Corp. agreed to a $2.43 billion settlement with
investors who suffered losses during its acquisition of Merrill Lynch
& Co., resolving one of the biggest legal battles to stem from the
takeover.
(
by Zachary Tracer and Bradley Keoun
Bloomberg News
, Bloomberg)

Spy chief defends Obama administration
In a statement, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.
weighs in on the deadly assault on the U.S. mission in Libya.
(
by Greg Miller
, The Washington Post)

Bo Xilai ousted from Communist Party
Once-powerful official, accused of multiple crimes, purged from ranks in advance of leadership transition.
(
by William Wan
, The Washington Post)

Winter Issue Dec/Jan 2012 2nd Year Anniversary Our latest issue featuring art by Eve Harlowe, Special Music Insert illuminating local artists Planet B. Fashion editorial of West Coast Leather, designs by Emporium Armani, Kairon John Rise of the Phoenix, a Bi-Monthly publication illuminating people of color, from different backgrounds in four (4) areas, including fashion, lifestyle, culture and music. We feel there is a need for our publication f…

June 29, 2011

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS Kabul hotel attacked by suicide bombersA squad of bombers and gunmen attacked a landmark hotel in the Afghan capital late Tuesday, exploding a vehicle at its gate and then entering the building. (By Pamela Constable)

D.C. seeks foothold in online gamblingD.C. officials are scrambling to launch an online casino in the city, which is the first jurisdiction in the United States to sanction Internet gambling. (By Michael Laris)

Matching Supreme Court justices The Supreme Court term that ended Monday appeared to make clear that Bush and Obama got what they hoped for when they nominated the justices who will shape the court’s future. ( by Robert Barnes , The Washington Post)

June 27, 2011

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS At Fort Campbell, mixed reviews for Afghan planPfc. Rob Nunez, who spent eight months in Konar province near the Pakistani border, and some of his fellow soldiers have vastly different reactions to the plan. (By Kevin Sieff)

Does GOP have a compromise on debt?As President Obama prepares to meet with Senate leaders to try to restart talks over the debt, some Republicans see a potential path to compromise: Significant cuts in military spending. (By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane)

A pair of veteran spies cross pathsBetty McIntosh and Doris Bohrer served in the OSS and CIA, but their remarkable friendship didn’t form until they moved to the same retirement community. (By Ian Shapira)

AP IMPACT: Once-rural populations skyrocket near some US nuclear plants, evacuations unlikely BUCHANAN, N.Y. — As America’s nuclear power plants have aged, the once-rural areas around them have become far more crowded and much more difficult to evacuate. Yet government and industry have paid little heed, even as plants are running at higher power and posing more danger in the event of an accident, an Associated Press investigation has found. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

Ask Amy: Husband ’fesses up to old affairs; wife is torn Her husband confessed to indulging in two affairs years ago. She went to counseling with him and was told by the counselor to “get over it.” A) She’s not ready to and B) What kind of therapist is that? (, Tribune Media Service)

PGA Tour: Travelers win is Jacobson’s first title CROMWELL, Conn. — Fredrik Jacobson closed out his first PGA Tour title on Sunday, shooting a 4-under 66 in the Travelers Championship for a one-stroke victory over John Rollins and Ryan Moore. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

Real Wheels Live Live online discussion with Real Wheels columnist Warren Brown about car-buying and the auto industry. (, vForum)

Lisa de Moraes on the TV Column Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes is back and ready to chat about all the drama, comedy and heartbreak of the world of television -- both onscreen and behind-the-scenes! (, vForum)

Lisa de Moraes on the TV Column Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes is back and ready to chat about all the drama, comedy and heartbreak of the world of television -- both onscreen and behind-the-scenes! (, vForum)

BUSINESSGreek deputies to begin debate on crucial austerity plans before votes ATHENS, Greece — Greek lawmakers begin debating new austerity plans Monday that must pass this week if the debt-ridden country is to receive the critical next installment of loans from its international bailout plan and avoid default. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

June 20, 2011

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS McIlroy captures history at CongressionalRory McIlroy posts the lowest mark in tournament history, shooting a final-round 69 for a total of 16-under 268, as he runs away with the 111th U.S. Open. (By Barry Svrluga)

CEO Pay: What the area’s executives makeHefty stock awards and bonuses drove total compensation up over 20 percent for Washington’s highest-paid chief executives last year, reflecting a nationwide trend among the largest public companies. (By Danielle Douglas)

STYLEAsk Amy: Words of love, uttered and ... forgotten? During a weekend outing, her boyfriend told her he loved her, would marry her “in a week” and wanted her to have his baby. The next day, he couldn’t remember what he said. Yes, there was drinking involved. (, Tribune Media Service)

Hints From Heloise: Special guest request Heloise asks: Is it fair to ask for unusual, specialty or hard-to-find food items when you are a guest in someone’s home? Readers, what do you have to say? (, King)

Calm by the green, crazed by the pitch At the U.S. Open and the Gold Cup, vastly dissimilar cultures were on display — entirely different, yet very much the same. ( by Rick Maese , The Washington Post)

FTC vs. National Gallery Republican lawmaker’s push to have the National Gallery take over the historic FTC building has sparked a turf battle in Washington. ( by Ned Martel , The Washington Post)

Sunday's Sports In Brief BETHESDA, Md. — On another brilliant day of golf, Rory McIlroy ran away with the U.S. Open title, winning by eight shots and breaking the tournament scoring record by a whopping four strokes. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

WORLDReports: Japan's prime minister under pressure to resign next month TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, criticized for his handling of the tsunami disaster and the country’s sluggish economy, is under pressure to resign next month if budget bills are passed by parliament, reports said Monday. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

White House report on Libya does little to soothe anger among lawmakers on Capitol Hill WASHINGTON — The White House is vigorously defending President Barack Obama’s right to keep the U.S. military engaged in Libya without seeking congressional approval, a move that appears to have done little to soothe anger among Republican lawmakers and anti-war Democrats over the president’s consultations with Congress during the nearly three month-long campaign. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

Miss Manners: Who wins in ‘culture’ clash? Dear Miss Manners: When cultural differences result in different expectations of the hostess and guest obligations, to whose culture should we defer; the hostess’s or the guest’s? (, United Media)

May 02, 2011

The Skinny: Do yourself a favor and buy a newspaper today and throw it in your closet. It will have more meaning 25 years from now than a screen grab of some blog aggregator. A slow weekend until Sunday night. Then media scrambled to cover the Bin Laden news. Then some media scrambled away as quickly as possible and back to entertainment programming. At the box office, "Fast Five" blows away the competition.

Racing to the top. Universal's "Fast Five" cruised to first place at the box office, taking in $83.6 million in the U.S. No, that's not a typo! Part of me wants to attribute the huge opening numbers to people going to see the car chase/heist flick as a goof on a weekend when there wasn't much else playing at the multiplex. If you think you had a bad prom, that was nothing compared to Disney's "Prom," which took in only $5 million in its opening weekend. The long-awaited sequel to "Hoodwinked" also flopped. Box office coverage from the Los Angeles Times, Variety and New York Times. Here's a summer preview from USA Today.

Hope they can carry a tune after all that. MTV is finally putting on "The Electric Barbarellas," a reality show about an all-female band that was championed by none other than Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone. The involvement of the almost 90 year-old Viacom chief in a show about an all-girl band was first broken by then-Daily Beast writer Peter Lauria, whose coverage of all this irritated Redstone to no end. Let's hope Lauria is having a good chuckle today. Details on the show from Variety.

NFL latest to push iPad access. The NFL Network, the league's cable channel that could be pretty dull if the labor dispute isn't solved by this summer, is talking with distributors about offering the network on iPads and other tablet devices. NFL Network is the latest programmer to want to put itself on iPads. The challenge is reworking deals with distributors so they don't risk losing subscribers. In other words, the cable guys have to be the gatekeeper to iPad access. More from the Wall Street Journal.

April 14, 2011

A Man, A Plan, A DeficitPresident Obama outlined his plan for tackling the national debt Wednesday, drawing on liberal values and proposing tax cuts for the rich.Read original story in New York Times | Thursday, April 14, 2011

FAA Ends Solo Air Traffic Night ShiftsAfter another incident of a controller nodding off, federal authorities now insist each night shift must be a sleepover with more than one controller at the party.Read original story in Washington Post | Thursday, April 14, 2011

States Seek to Ban Animal Farm ExposesUndercover photos and videos are a favored tool of animal advocates looking to reveal squalid conditions and inhumane practices. Some states want to make them illegal, because not all animals are equal.Read original story in New York Times | Thursday, April 14, 2011

Blogger Sues Huffington PostAriana Huffington is a "robber baron" who has made millions off the backs of unpaid bloggers, says one contributer who's filed suit against the site.Read original story in Los Angeles Times | Wednesday, April 13, 2011

February 28, 2011

The King's Speech Triumphs at OscarsThe period costume drama won best picture while its star Colin Firth picked up the best actor Oscar. Natalie Portman of Black Swan won best actress in a ceremony critics are calling anticlimactic.Read original story in The New York Times | Monday, Feb. 28, 2011

Rebels Closing In on QaddafiArmed forces opposed to the Libyan dictator are in control of a town 30 miles west of Tripoli that is now surrounded by government forces. Is Oman next?Read original story in The New York Times | Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011

November 29, 2010

Nelly is struggling to comprehend one particular title bestowed upon him in his 10-year career: the underdog.

Despite selling more than 20 million albums in the U.S., having nearly a dozen top 10 singles, being ranked as the third top overall artist of the 2000-2009 decade by Billboard magazine behind Eminem and Usher and snagging a mantle's worth of Grammys, American Music Awards, Video Music Awards and BET Awards, he still feels looked upon as the underdog, and that perplexes him.

“I think it's because you’ve had so much success," he reasons, while noshing on fried shrimp in a private dining room at a West Hollywood hotel. "When you’ve had so much, people are tired of rooting for you to win."

It doesn't take long for the frustration to appear on his face.

"It boggles me. I’m still looked at as the underdog. I mean, how is it, a ... sells 30 million records and be looked at as the underdog? For some reason, I get it," he chuckles as he shakes his head. "It’s a mystery to me. I feel like no matter what I do, it’s going to be something.”

He knows part of that is due to the performance of his last album, 2008's “Brass Knuckles,” which delivered first-week sales that paled in comparison to the storied blockbuster success of his previous albums. That slide resulted in his latest release, “5.0,” being pegged as a "comeback."

The disc, which debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 for the week of Nov. 24 after selling a relatively few 63,000 copies, rides on the strength of his platinum single “Just a Dream.”

The St. Louis native doesn’t mince words on how he feels -- including taking to Twitter recently to blast his label, Universal Motown, for not promoting the album enough and providing retailers with only a certain number of copies.

“It’s hard being compared to yourself. I ain’t never met a person that can beat themselves. For some strange reason, people hold me to myself. It’s just like, ‘Yeah, "Brass Knuckles" didn’t do Nelly numbers,’ but it damn near sold 800,000. If you look at 800,000, today’s top artists are selling that,” he says. “I sold 800,000 on my worst record. Some people wait on you to not succeed the way you did before to call it a failure, a brick, a flop, to call it what you want to call it. There’s nothing I can do with that.” [For the record: A representative for Universal Motown clarified that while the label shipped nearly 800,000 units of "Brass Knuckles," the rapper only sold 230,000 copies.]

Since his debut 10 years ago with “Country Grammar,” the rapper born Cornell Haynes Jr. has cemented his pop crossover status with radio- -- and club- -- friendly hooks propelled by his Midwestern twang and sing-songy flow. He's the first hip-hop artist to debut at nos. 1 and 2 in the same week after putting out "Sweat" and "Suit" on the same day in 2004, and his single "Over and Over" with Tim McGraw made him the first rapper with a hit on the country chart.

No stranger to success, he almost walked away from it all after the death of his sister, Jackie, in 2005 following a battle with leukemia.

“After you lose someone that close to you it makes you reevaluate things. You look at yourself in a different perspective, and music was one thing,” he said. “It made me want to stay home and spend more time with my family, my mom, my kids [he adopted Jackie's two children after she died]. There was so much she wanted to do. Trips she wanted to do, places she wanted to see. I don’t know if I could’ve lived through [what she did] and ever smile again.” CONTINUE READING..

August 23, 2010

OAKLAND,CA - It was the 10th Anniversary of the Arts & Soul Festival held in the downtown Oakland. In true fashion the event brought out both young and old to celebrate summer in downtown Oakland. The weather did not disappoint as well. There were several food vendors, artists, handicraft as well as corporate entities present at this year's festival. You did not see much visible police present as in previous years, which is probably due to the current budget mishmash going in the City of Oakland. Nonetheless it was truly apparent that everyone was having a great time. There was a great abundance of diversity at this year's festival as it is at all festivals. There is so much rich diversity in the East-bay its infectious. I attended Sunday's festival and the talent for Sunday, was split between three stages. On the Plaza stage was a mix of jazz, contemporary music and salsa provided by Pete Escovedo and family. There was also the Blues and Heritage stage where a host of talented musicians performed for the more mature audience. On the main stage were most of the excitement was generated due to performances by Tony, Toni,Tone minus Raphael Saadiq, PopLyfe, Club Nouveau, Sheila E. and En Vogue. The main stage emcee was Mark Curry, who through his comedy kept the audience amused especially when there was a short wait between each set. Dwayne Wiggins formerly of Tony, Toni, Tone served as the music director on stage and did an excellent job of keeping the music flowing. Of course the anticipated performance by En Vogue was what everyone was waiting for. After about 36 minutes after the set was to begin the four "Funky Divas" come on to the stage, they received a rousing introduction by Renel a popular local DJ. All four of the group performed a melody of songs that were synonymous for in past years. There electrifying performance brought the audience to their feet. At times the stadium sound audio did overpower the vocals however for the most part it was a great performance and sort of a homecoming for these four young ladies of Oakland. The last set was performed by Shelia E. who definitely did not disappoint her fans. Her rhythmic latin music with the congas, and other instruments that you have come to expect to see when Sheila E. performs. Check out some pictorial highlights from this year's event shown below:

September 2012

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